“No one inside the coffin?”

“Really no one,” Jiao Tu said, “I opened the coffin and looked. There were no clothes, no official cap, and no burial goods inside. Old Master Liu isn’t dead. Perhaps he’s still in the Liu family’s large courtyard right now.”

The Liu family’s large courtyard is on Longmen Mountain, south of Luocheng. It occupies several hundred mu. People in Luocheng often joke that if an ordinary woman marries into the Liu family’s high-walled, gray-tiled compound, she might never be able to walk out her entire life and would die inside.

Jiao Tu tore off Chen Ji’s blindfold, and the three of them sat on the ground on top of Zhuangyuan Mountain. “Tell me, what do we do now?”

Yun Yang hesitated for a long time. “The Liu family actually dares to risk the world’s great condemnation and pressure the secret spy department with that old fellow’s fake death? Doesn’t that mean the entire Liu family is like Liu Shiyu, all collaborating with the enemy?”

Jiao Tu raised both arms to tie up her hair bun. “The Liu family has operated in the Central Plains for a long time, controlling eighty percent of the farmland and officials. Even the court has to look at their face when collecting grain and taxes. Families like the Liu clan, Xu clan, Hu clan, Chen clan, Qi clan, and Yang clan have long put family interests above the country. It’s not strange for them to collaborate with the enemy.”

“But His Majesty’s Wan Sui Army is right on the border of Yu State, how dare they?” Yun Yang was surprised.

Jiao Tu thought deeply for a moment. “What if Jing Wang Manor is connected to the Liu family? I will send a carrier pigeon immediately to inform the inner minister. This matter is not something you or I can decide; we must transfer soldiers here!”

“Right, immediately transfer soldiers to surround the Liu family!”

Chen Ji interrupted, “Two adults…”

Yun Yang’s eyes lit up. “What? Do you have new ideas? Quickly tell me, you have a lot of ideas, boy!”

Chen Ji said, “Trouble two adults to settle the reward for the humble one. The fifty taels from Adult Jiao Tu last time haven’t been given yet. That’s a total of one hundred fifty taels.”

Jiao Tu’s face darkened. “All you know is money, money, money.”

Chen Ji was urgently short of money now. He roughly estimated the Ice Flow inside his body. This time, he feared he would need more than ten stalks of ginseng to resolve it. There were still many Ice Flows uncollected in the Luocheng prison. This back and forth would probably cost more than a thousand taels of silver.

His cultivation path was too expensive!

He smiled and said, “Two adults, just the matter of investigating that there is no one inside the coffin is already a great merit. I think the inner minister will be very happy. Compared to this, what is one hundred taels of silver?”

Jiao Tu reluctantly took off a string of purple sandalwood beads from her wrist. “Here, it’s a Buddhist sect通行宝 (tōngxíng bǎo, passage treasure). You can go to Tuoluo Temple and get one hundred taels of silver.”

Chen Ji was startled for a moment. He examined the string of beads, seeing that each bead was covered in dense small characters, making his eyes dizzy.

“This can be exchanged for money?” he asked curiously.

“Never seen a Buddhist sect通行宝?” Jiao Tu explained, “These beads contain their own secret code. Take them to their Xiangji Kitchen, and someone will naturally give you money according to the secret code. They understand.”

Chen Ji was even more curious. “Then if I carve an identical string of beads myself, can’t I also exchange it for money?”

Jiao Tu laughed softly. “I advise you to give up that thought. There are not a few people in the Jianghu who have tried to mess with the Buddhist sect, and they have all been超度 (chāodù, transcended/sent to the afterlife) in the end.”

On the side, Yun Yang took out five small silver ingots. “Here.”

Chen Ji smiled sincerely. “Thank you for your patronage. I’ve been out too long today. Trouble two adults to send me back first. As for how to handle the Liu family’s matter, it’s not something I can participate in.”

His savings already amounted to two hundred taels of silver, zero, and one hundred seventy-three copper coins.

That’s not counting the fifty taels of silver under the bed.

…

…

It was not until midnight, Chou time, that the carriage dropped Chen Ji back at the door of Taiping Medical Hall.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu had just lost some money, and even the joy of gaining merit was diluted. They didn’t exchange a single word and drove the carriage away.

As the carriage drove into the distance, Hei Yun jumped from the top of the carriage into his embrace. “I already remember the location of the inner prison… Ah, your body is so cold.”

“I attracted too many Ice Flows in the inner prison. Did you see Jiao Tu’s cultivation path?” Chen Ji carried the copper coins in his left hand and Hei Yun in his right as he walked towards the medical hall.

“I saw it! A venerable Yin God drilled out from between her eyebrows! Fierce!” Hei Yun said.

Chen Ji pushed open the main door of the medical hall. However, just as he was pushing the door, at three quarters of Chou time, the Ice Flow arrived as promised.

This seemed to be a special moment. The dormant Ice Flow always surged at this time, relentlessly.

Chen Ji struggled to walk towards the medicine cabinet. A medicine peddler had come to the door this morning, and the master should have restocked the new ginseng.

But, before he could even reach the medicine cabinet, he was already unable to move.

Chen Ji said with difficulty, “Hei Yun… ginseng.”

Inside the medical hall, Hei Yun jumped out of Chen Ji’s embrace, leaped onto the medicine cabinet familiarly, pulled open a drawer, bit a stalk of new ginseng, and ran back to touch Chen Ji.

*Ding ding dang dang*, the ginseng turned into ten transparent beads, fell to the ground and bounced up. Hei Yun ran and jumped, chasing the beads and swallowing them one by one.

The melting flow returned, instantly igniting the left Taiyi acupoint and the right Taiyi acupoint outside his Dantian!

Chen Ji leaned against the counter, exhausted, and touched Hei Yun’s head. “Thank you.”

Hei Yun raised its head. “You don’t need to thank me from now on… What if your master finds out the ginseng is missing?”

Chen Ji was embarrassed. “I have to quickly buy a new one to replace it before master finds out.”

Hei Yun thought for a moment. “Or, should I go beat that fat white cat again and settle the score for you?”

Chen Ji solemnly and respectfully said, “…Good idea!”

At this moment, Old Man Yao’s indifferent voice came from behind him. “I told you to go deliver medicine, and you actually delivered it from morning until evening.”

Chen Ji subconsciously turned around, blocking the still-open medicine cabinet drawer behind him. “Master? Why did you walk without making any sound?”

Not only Chen Ji, but even Hei Yun hadn’t detected his approach!

Old Man Yao stood in the main hall of the medical hall with his hands behind his back, his face full of mockery. “You still know to come back? What are you standing there for? Come over!”

Chen Ji didn’t dare to move, because the medicine cabinet drawer behind him wasn’t closed yet!

Just as he was quickly thinking of a coping strategy, he saw Hei Yun jump down from his embrace and run to Old Man Yao, leaping up.

Old Man Yao was startled for a moment and subconsciously reached out to catch Hei Yun. The fluffy little black cat meowed in his hands, blinking its golden vertical pupils.

Old Man Yao was silent for a long time, finally holding Hei Yun in his arms, stroking its fluffy head, and laughing coldly at Chen Ji. “It’s much more sensible than you… Go, Hei Yun, Grandpa will take you to eat snacks.”

Chen Ji: Huh?

With Hei Yun doing this, Old Man Yao actually forgot to reprimand himself.

Taking advantage of Old Man Yao turning around, Chen Ji quickly and quietly closed the medicine cabinet.

Just as he closed it, he heard Old Man Yao’s light voice float over. “What are you still hiding? Go buy a new one to restock it for me tomorrow. Look at the ledger carefully, not even a single whisker can be missing.”

Chen Ji followed awkwardly to the backyard and changed the subject. “Master, where are the two senior brothers?”

Old Man Yao said indifferently, “She Dengke’s third brother held a banquet for a wealthy family. She Dengke took Liu Quxing to mix in and listen to opera. They’ll be back tomorrow morning. Originally, he wanted to take you too, but you were late coming back.”

He took out the purple wooden box from the room again. The first layer of the drawer contained snacks, and the second layer contained preserved fruits.

Hei Yun hadn’t eaten all day and stuffed its mouth full.

Chen Ji just glanced at that drawer, and he was glared at by Old Man Yao.

“If you want to eat, go to the kitchen and make your own meal,” Old Man Yao said coldly.

“Oh.”

Chen Ji took a mixed grain cake from the kitchen and nibbled on it while asking, “Master, what is the special meaning of the time at three quarters of Chou time?”

Old Man Yao frowned and thought while holding snacks and feeding Hei Yun. “Three quarters of Chou time… is the time you were born.”

“Hmm?” Chen Ji was surprised. The Ice Flow surges every time at this hour, and it’s also because three quarters of Chou time is his birth time?

Strange, could that vast consciousness on the battlefield want to seize him and must wait until this moment of his birth time?

Chen Ji hesitated for a long time, finally asking frankly, “Master, what is a Xing Guan?”

Old Man Yao glanced at him. “Why should I tell you? You can sell intelligence for money, but you want to get free information from me here?”

As soon as the words fell, Hei Yun stopped eating the snacks and used its fluffy head to rub against Old Man Yao’s palm.

Seeing the situation, Old Man Yao immediately said with a bad attitude, “You little thing look obedient, but you have a lot of tricks.”

He slowly said, “Xing Guan is a general term for cultivators. There are various cultivation paths, and they do everything.”

Chen Ji was doubtful. “Why don’t ordinary people know about their existence?”

Old Man Yao stroked Hei Yun’s head and said, “It’s just that most people don’t know. Most Xing Guan have to hide their cultivation paths well, otherwise they will be coveted by people on the same path.”

“Why?”

“Because every cultivation path seeks the Dao, just like a bowl of water. There’s only that much water in the bowl. If it’s divided among many people, each person can only drink a little. And if you want to walk on that final heaven-reaching great road, you need to drink that bowl of water by yourself. If even one more person shares it, it won’t work.”

Chen Ji was stunned. Energy conservation?

It was only then that he realized why Yun Yang said that there was only life and death on the cultivation road. Under this kind of heavenly law, people who cultivate the same path are natural enemies.

Chen Ji calmly asked, “Then Master, you are a Xing Guan…”

Old Man Yao smiled, actually beckoned towards the sky, and saw that the dark night suddenly resonated with the sound of wings, and a huge black crow descended!

Chen Ji suddenly stood up. So this black crow was the master’s!

When he was being harassed by the Ice Flow, when he went to Liu Shiyu’s home to investigate the case, the other party was there all along!

“Master, you knew everything,” Chen Ji said hesitantly.

“What does it matter if I know or not?” Old Man Yao gently stroked the crow’s feathers, and the crow looked at Chen Ji, opened its mouth in a silent laugh, as if mocking his ignorance of this world.

This crow of Master’s was just as harsh as Master.

At this moment, the crow looked at the lowered head Hei Yun showing off its meal, then looked at Old Man Yao again, and let out *ga ga ga* sounds.

Old Man Yao patiently said to it, “Get to know him, this is a new friend.”

The next second, the crow looked at Chen Ji, then looked at Old Man Yao again.

Old Man Yao continued patiently, “Not this one yet.”

Chen Ji: “…”